Parakala was appointed to the NSUI central committee as All India Vice President in 1984. It was almost like a token of appreciation by the Congress High Command of his performance as President of the JNU unit and his contribution to the establishment of the organisation in the citadel of left wing student politics. As an office bearer of the central committee of NSUI, he toured several states and universities to organise the activities of the students' wing of the Congress Party. He took up a massive campaign against drug abuse in the university campuses all over the country. With his departure for United Kingdom in October 1986 to pursue his higher studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), there was a break to his political activity. On his return to India in May 1991 he resumed political activity in his native place Narasapuram in West Godavari District. Tragic political events in the country resulted in dramatic political developments. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, in the midst of the election campaign and P V Narasimha Rao was elected to lead the Congress Party. After the elections, Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister at the head of a minority government. Parakala family was closely associated with P V Narasimha Rao for a long time, Parakala Seshavataram, Prabhakar's father, being a close political associate of Rao. Narasimha Rao assigned the task of conceiving, designing and building a grand institution to perpetuate the memory of Rajiv Gandhi. He made Parakala as Officer on Special Duty to oversee the implementation of the project 'Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development (RGNIYD). It is conceived as an institution to train the youth of India and impart to them skills that are necessary to them to play a vital role in building a modern nation in the 21st century, a theme that was dear to the heart of Rajiv Gandhi. Parakala went around the country to study various institutions, their constitutions, structures, course content etc., and designed the Institute which is functional now under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development. Around this time Parakala was nominated by the Congress High Command to represent the Congress Party at the French Communist Party's Plenary in Paris.